CHARGERS HAVE ROOM UNDER CAP AS TEAM BEGINS ROSTER REMODEL

The Chargers brass will spend the next two weeks before the NFL Scouting Combine and into March finishing their evaluation of the current roster and figuring out whom to bring back and bring in.

One thing the Chargers are not concerned about is where they’ll find the money to make the necessary improvements.

The Chargers were one of two teams to not take advantage of a provision in the NFL’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement that allows teams to carry over cap room from this year to next.

The reason the Chargers didn’t is that despite currently being $2.1 million under the cap, that room will essentially all be used by the end of the league year.

And, besides, the Chargers won’t need the extra money.

The 2012 cap is expected to be around the same level as in 2011, slightly more than last year’s $120 million and perhaps as high as $125 million. Given that, the Chargers have between $10 million and $15 million to work with.

And while they have much to try to accomplish, they have room to maneuver.

For one, they will likely clear the books of $10 million by waiving left tackle Marcus McNeill. McNeill has to be cleared by a team doctor by the third day of the new league year, which begins March 13, or his 2012 salary is not guaranteed. McNeill is not expected to get a clean bill of health from the Chargers.

The team is also expected to release or seek to renegotiate the contract of defensive end Luis Castillo, who is due $4.975 million in 2012. Releasing Castillo, who played just 3½ quarters last season before suffering a fractured leg, would clear all but $1.025 million of Castillo’s $6 million cap number.

While those close to him and team sources indicate that left guard Kris Dielman is leaning toward playing in 2012 after a scary concussion and seizure prompted him to consider retirement, Dielman’s possible departure would free up another $5.5 million. That’s money the Chargers will happily pay to keep Dielman.

One other player to consider is Takeo Spikes, who signed a three-year contract that was essentially a one-year guarantee before last season. Spikes, who turned 35 in December, is due $2.875 million in 2012.

All told, there conceivably could be about $23 million cut from the Chargers’ payroll in the coming months.

Whatever they have to spend – from $10 million to $33 million — they will likely use it all in the remodeling of a roster that is old and inexperienced, contains playmakers but not enough of them and just plain needs to get better.

If you’re a Chargers fan, the quote of Super Bowl week came not from anything said by someone in Indianapolis but over the phone to someone in Indianapolis.

Speaking to U-T San Diego about Philip Rivers and the Chargers’ recent failure in the playoffs, head coach Norv Turner expressed his confidence in his quarterback — with a simply stated caveat.

“He’ll get us back and give us an opportunity,” Turner said. “… We just need to continue to get better around him.”